SAVE THE CHILDREN FUND

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 56, 8 March 1922, Page 8

SAVE THE CHILDREN FUND

NEW ZEALAND KITCHEN AT

SARATOV

CONVINCING SCENES OF THE '

FAMINE.

(raou. oos own coßßsspoiumir.)

LONDON, 20th January. Up to 21st December last the total amount subscribed by the people of New Zealand and paid ovor to the Save the Children Fund amounted to about £55,670. A further sum of £323 having come to hand since then, the High Commissioner acquiesced with the desires of the Council of the Save the Children Fund, and allocated the amount for the establishment of a "Now Zealand kitchen" in the Saratov district. It is in this part of Russia where the populace, mainly peasantry, are suffering: the extreme rigours of the famine, and the Save the Children Fund organisation has taken the responsibility of feeding a quarter of a million children of the district.

So economically is* (he administrative work done by the experienced British workers in charge at Saratov, and so carefully has everything been calculated, that it is definitely worked out that each child can be fed for l^d per meal, or Is per week, 'including administration. Arising out of this, a scheme has been devised under whidi any gift of £100 in one sum or in instalments can be allocated to the upkeep of one particular kitchen from which 100 children can be fed for twenty weeks. The individual or organisation sending the money can then choose a name for the kitchen, and in due course will receive photographs of the place showing the work of relief in progress. Under this scheme these contributors in the Dominion become the patrons of a kitchen, and the £323 already handed over will feed 323 childron for twenty weeks. A further £210 has come to hand, and this, together with other sums sent, will be supplied to futher extend the scope of the relief.

A certain amount of doubt has -e'cemly been cast upon the reports from Russia, and in order to convince the (>eople of this country that the work of the Sa-ve the Children Fund is a relief urgently needed the., organisation has. had movij.g pictures taken, and this scries was present-, ed yesterday for the first tiinf to invited' guests. The ; Blm. will b.> exhibited throughout London, and lator in rhp provinces, and will be som-msin^ testimony of the horrors which are occurring in the stricken iand.

SEEING IS RELIEVING

Lcrd Weardale, president of the organisation, in introducing ihe dim at (he pii vate view, "aid that with che sanction •and under the advics of ]>r. Nansen, they had undertaken to distribute food amongst a quarter of * jmlliur: children in the district of Saratov, one- of. the west stricken aieas in the. famine roiri.in. When thr-y began their work there were utill many doubters. They were told by some people that thoro was no famine at all. Others snid the food would bo lost or 'taken by the Rod Guards long before, it reached its destination. They had, therefore, come to the conclusion that the best thing to do waa to provide the public with conclusive proof of the terror of the famine itself, and secondly, to show the efficiency of the means of distribution which they Ijsd been able to set up. They had, therefore, sent out a well-known photographic press correspondent, who was well acquainted with Russia. The result was the film which showed first of all the effects of the famine itself, and then the whole system of the control and distribution of the supplies from the moment they were unshipped until they arrived at their destination. The film provided most positive proof that the supplies were arriving in safety and under absolute control. Moreover, they were receiving a great deal of co-operation from the Russian authorities. . Whatever their political views might be, it was only fair to admit that the Kussian authorities ■ impressed them v-ith their entire good-will and efficiency. Alttioujrh they had made arrangement* to administer relief until April, the destitution would continue until the harvest was gathered, inland they wanted, if they ooulcr, to continue'their relief until that time. Anyone who was conscious of the sufferings of the Russian: people at this time —and they wore suffering with extraordinary dignity and calm—would feel compelled to give their support and assistance in the movement in which they were engaged.

A TERRIBLE MESSAGE.

Nothing- could be more terrible than many of tho pictures presented, though as Lord Weardate explained, some of the scenes taken by the photographer wore too gruesome *° bo presented on the screen. The 61m showed little children reduced to mere skin and bone, and clad only in. rags with which to withstand the rigours of the Russian, winter, huddled together in the corner of a bare room in which the furniture has lontr been sold for food. It depicts little children dying in the arms of a dying mother. "The mother died within a few hours of succour. It shows children frozen to death in a, hovel, and others doomed to die through privation and through disease brought on through eating refuse. Other piotures portray a procession' of peasants who attempted a thousand-mile trek to regions where better conditions prevailed, but children too often had to be abandoned 1 by the way—many to die, but some to be rescued by the agents of the Save the Children JFund. Corpses laid out alongthe street waiting for the dead cart, 1 a procession of these carts each carrying a. dozen rough coffins, and final unhallowed ceremony at the grave; these scenes must have convinced the doubters. At vthe ■oemetery, whore hundreds of victims are buried every day. seventy-or eighty in s grave, |the naked corpses are tilted out ■and the rough coffins used again, and mound beypnd mound denoted the place whore the thousands of victims are buried There is proof enough of tho urgent need if the sacrifice'of human life is to ceaee.

NOTHING LEFT TO CHANCE.

But there is another phase of the film— the power of money and the joy and hope it can. bring to the famished children. The object is to show the ca-re with which the gifts of produce are brought to their destination. Each truck is securely locked and sealed, armed guards are placed along- the train, and at each stoppingplace a patrol,- accompanied by an Englishman, goes the whole length of the tram. Under-carriages are examined, and a soldier patrols the top of the carnages too. _On reaching Saratov, the whole train is again examined, and the seals of tho door inspected by the Englishman in charge.of the mission, and Bnally the unloading is done under tho protection of the armed party and in the presence of the English workers,-every bag; of flour and produce being duly weighed. Then there k depicted the distribution of the stores to the various kitohens in the district, tho preparation of tho food, the hospitals, the feeding of tho children. Some children have besen token too late, and will not recover. But tho wonderful transformation from bass of bones to healthy, smiling children that is accomplished by a month or two of English food is testimony enough, to tho work of the Save the Children Fund, and it is boin<r dono at the cost of Is per week for each ohild.